Chapter Seventeen....Restless Mothers and Nervous Fathers (continued)
"This is how I feel about you. All the time." she spread her hand over his that was against her stomach. "That fear,
that sick feeling. That something will go wrong. Some small stupid little thing. And my world will end." She shut her
eyes. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry, its not your fault." She didn't talk about her own fear. Of losing him. He knew it and there
was nothing either one of them could do about it. He was who he was and she would no more change his protective
nature that drove him to defend because someone had to than she would think to ask the sun not to rise. She
loved him, somehow because of it, just as strongly. That Hector would always stand between what mattered and
harm. She was proud of him. And so afraid for him. And she worked so hard to never tell him so. Not to burden him
anymore with it than she already did simply because he knew her heart and soul.
And now he was living with what she did. Not for battle. But for a little life that was too precious to risk and his
encompassing love for her.
Women died in childbirth. Babies died. And the threat of fevers and blood loss even afterward were tiny, living
creatures that could sit by a man's bed and whisper to him. And somehow, the thought of her husband living with
that sparked anger inside her. He already carried so much. So many. She would not be a burden or a weight,
dragging at him. She turned around to face him, taking his face in both her hands and meeting his eyes.
"I am going to see this child safely born, my love. I swear it to you" she promised it fiercely. "I will not lose."
He met her eyes and saw the fierceness in her promise. "I know, and I believe you." He said and relaxed as much
as he was able to. Then he smiled. "But," he said. "Keep that expression and I will retire my armor and turn it over
to you. Did you know boys go to special schools to learn that expression? I did. No wonder my soldiers haven't
reported your nocturnal habits to me, they're fearful of the wrath of Andromache!"
The thought made him chuckle. Not that his wife couldn't have wrath or be feared, but that the Apollonians and
other soldiers were trembling at the thought of turning a pregnant princess in to their general.
He knew those feelings she had whenever he rode off. No matter how hard he tried, he could always see it in her
eyes though she would try to hide it before he left her.
But he was Troy's trained protector. And there was no one else he trusted to protect his country, and his wife,
more than himself. A failing that might perhaps cause her no end of pain, but at least it wasn't a surprise. She had
known that about him before he began following her around.
"Your soldiers like me." she responded, relaxing as he did. Finding a smile at his teasing. She moved her thumbs
gently across his cheeks. "They like the idea of your child walking the walls of Troy before the baby's even out of
the womb. They liked knowing a secret about us before you did." she added, leaning up to kiss him with a smile
before drawing back, eyes going dark as they searched his face.
"I won't come anymore if you ask me not to." she told him. The walls were the only place that felt - open enough.
Late at night everything else seemed too crowded and closed in. But she found peace on the walls. And yet - and
yet it worried him. Which was why she hadn't told him in the first place. He could tease her about the solider's
fearing her wrath but the truth was that she'd do anything he asked of her. Give up anything he asked her to. The
baby would come soon enough. She could stay land bound for a bit longer if it eased his heart.
He softened when he heard the tone behind her words. "I won't." He said. "I would just like to know." He cupped her
face between his hands and looked into her eyes. "I woke up, and you weren't there and a million evil things ran
through my mind." He could see she depended on this freedom, the walking of the walls. "And if you don't take me
with you, just stay in eyesight of someone." In case something untoward should happen.
"Thank you." she whispered it softly, eyes warm and full of her love for him. He made her heart ache with the way
that she loved him. Raising her face, she kissed him gently.
"I will." Another soft kiss. "I promise." Her lips smiled softly against his and eyes closed she whispered: "And soon I'll
let you walk the walls with our child and I'll be the one trying to get some sleep."
Hector laughed and held her as close as he could, her ever growing stomach pressing into his own. "You've got a
deal." He said. "And no walking up and down the stairs without an escort." He was obsessed with stairs.
But Troy was a multi level city state, with many, many stairs. Made of wood, made of stone, all could get slick when
the storms or even spells of fog rolled in from the sea.
Andromache laughed and it woke the babe in her belly who shifted in complaint or agreement. Still smiling she laid
one hand over her stomach and rested the other over Hector's chest, where his skin warmed her palm and his
heart beat steady.
"Put a limit on the number of stairs?' she pleaded, looking up at him with love and laughter in her eyes. "It's three
steps just to get to our bed."
Hector laughed and kissed her. "Okay, while I'm there, your limit is two steps without an escort." He said, fully
planning on escorting her to the bed each and every time when he was home. "When I'm not...four." That would at
least get her out of the bedroom. He could be talked out of his 'limits' very easily though. He just loved to tease her
to get that glint back in her eyes that he loved so. He ran his hand over where their child was tossing a bit and
smiled softly.
She loved that look in his eyes. The soft one of wonder that he got when he felt their child move. It still gave her a
secret thrill as well. That this life, this little bundle of their love, was real. Alive. Wiggly, she thought with a crooked
smile.
And then paused as a cramp ran through her. Absent she rubbed a hand along it. Off and on all night with those.
But there was no steady pattern to them so she let it go. Maybe she'd ask Hecuba in the morning.
"Four steps?" she seemed to think about it, tipping her head to look up at him with a smile in her eyes. "Well, that
keeps me from making it past our hallway." He had, after all, chosen a suite of rooms at the very top of the building
they lived in. At the very top of the city after all.
"Oh I can see we’ve got some debating and negotiating to do." He said with a laugh, but felt that cramp go through
her, as her stomach underneath his hand became hard for a moment. He looked at her. "Are you okay?" He asked
again, but this time for a reason. After all, he hadn’t felt any other cramps she had had the last few months.
"Don’t look at me like that." He said with a chuckle. "I’m serious, this whole thing is a mystery to me, I haven’t had
the slightest clue the whole time."
"Its fine." she cupped his cheek, resting her other hand over his as it lay across her stomach. "Your mother says
they're normal this late along." She looked up at him with dancing eyes. "It means my body's getting tired of
carrying your child around all the time." And she was too. She couldn't wait to see their child's little face, hold the
tiny baby in her arms, hear the giggles she only felt now. She wouldn't protest being able to see her feet again
either. But a part of her knew that she would never again be able to hold their child as close and safe as she was
now. That this, these moments, these months were precious. And they'd never come again for this baby and her.
The world would never be secondary for them the way it was now.
The baby shifted again and she made a face.
The baby would never be able to dig an elbow or heel or whatever that was into the side of her rib from the inside
again. She wound an arm through Hector's.
"Will you walk with me? For a little while?" Because asking him to go back to sleep would be like asking a fish to live
in the mountains. "Then I'll go back to bed;" she coaxed.
"Okay, for a little while." He said and nodded at the soldier who wasn't too far away to resume his post. "It is a nice
night." He said, breathing in the night air as they walked the walls. They walked a lot slower than they used to, but
then again, before she hadn't been about to give birth in the near future.
He was also anxious for the child to be born. For the obvious reason of when it was all over, he could assure
himself that everything was fine. And also he just wanted to meet this little life that he had somehow helped create.
That was still amazing in itself, especially to a man who had spent so many years taking lives in battle. Absolute
innocence was a precious commodity, and something he treasured.
"But are you sure..." He didn't even get it all out before she cast him a look and he grinned a bit sheepishly. "Never
mind."